Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Where's the Beef? It's Smell the Coffee Time in the USA

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Those of us, who live at ground zero in Taiwan, have long grown tired of hearing pundits and distant observers in USA media etc. judge things from a distance and spout or believe the pearls handed them by their past wine and dine Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) friends. For the past eighteen months we have heard those pundits speak in glorious terms about how the election of Ma Ying-jeou was going to solve all the problems in the Taiwan Strait, harmonize the triangle of the USA, Taiwan and China and allow everyone to become millionaires.

Taiwan in 2010: The leadership contest

Taiwan News Editorial

Taiwan's next year will be characterized by an intensifying contestation for political leadership between the faltering right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government of President Ma Ying-jeou and the Taiwan - centric opposition led by the Democratic Progressive Party.

Beset by the pressures of the global financial tsunami and afflicted by its own incompetence and hubris, the Ma government has suffered a stunning erosion of public confidence while Taiwan's economy suffered its worst postwar performance with an estimated contraction of 2.5 percent that shattered the credibility of Ma's rash and misguided campaign promise to attain an average six percent growth pace during his term.

Beef debacle is Ma’s opportunity

Taipei Times

Many people ask why the National Security Council (NSC) handled the Taiwan-US beef protocol instead of the Department of Health (DOH) or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The NSC later said it became involved because it was a matter of national security.

Now that the issue has gained notoriety, the Consumers’ Foundation (消基會) has expressed firm opposition to easing beef restrictions and both pan-blue and pan-green legislators reject the NSC’s and the Presidential Office’s handling of the case.

Taiwan lawmakers send message to U.S. and PRC

Taiwan News Editorial

The bipartisan consensus reached Tuesday in Taiwan's national legislature to agree to approve amendments to the food sanitation act banning imports of risky beef products from countries where cases of mad cow disease have been documented sent a ringing message that foreign powers cannot ignore the will of the Taiwan people and the reality of Taiwan's democratic system.

The proposed amendments, which should be voted into law on Jan. 5, will challenge the content of a controversial protocol signed October 22 between the Taiwan Economic and Culture Representative Office (TECRO) and American Institute in Taiwan after secretive talks between Washington and President Ma Ying-jeou's right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government.

Claims of 'recovery' for Taiwan premature

Taiwan News Editorial

Monday's announcement by the Council for Economic Planning and Development that its five-color monthly economic monitor had risen to an apparently overheated "yellow-red" in November from the seemingly healthy "green light" in October has sparked exaggerated claims of a "sustainable recovery" for Taiwan's battered economy in some local media.

After eight straight months of depressed "blue" lights since September 2008 and four consecutive months of sluggish "yellow-blue" signals, the CEPD indicator jumped to show a "green" light in October and a torrid "yellow-red" for November.

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Newsflash

Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers call for the cessation of construction on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District, New Taipei City, during a meeting of the Economic Committee yesterday at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.Photo: CNA

Motions demanding that state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台灣電力公司) suspend construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) and rejecting the company’s budget proposal for the year were passed yesterday by the legislature’s Economics Committee.

The motions, initiated by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, shot down Taipower’s plan to spend NT$11.7 billion (US$392.99 million) on the plant this year, including NT$10.7 billion of construction work that has already been outsourced.